In the Void

Just testing out Dreamwidth. I still can't access several pages on Dreamwidth, including my inbox, so the experience isn't all that impressive so far.

This is supposed to cross-post automatically to LJ. We'll see....

ETA: I'm j-cheney over at DW. Not a big change.

I'm tired of the rainy and cool. I realize that come August/September/October, when it's boiling hot and dry, I'll regret wanting it to go away, but for now I'm heartlily sick of it. Yes, I realize I'm saving money in watering and mowing, but a few of my plants are teetering on the verge of root rot, including two of my new bluebeards. Grrr....

The moles, however, are loving this weather, which makes ground-swimming easy for them.

We bought new maps for our GPS (in prep to go to Wisconsin), but when we started loading them, the computer said the device didn't have enough memory (so we only loaded certain areas). Would have been handy for them to tell us that before we spent the money. ::rolls eyes::

Process note:
I've finished the draft of DitD, and am taking a week or so to do edits. For example, in order to get some character arcs straight, I have a couple of conversations that need to be altered...nost notably one in chapter 2. This change will, however, provoke a cascade of smaller dialog alterations throughout the book....which means a complete read-through. I can do that, and if you were wondering, I will be incoporating the dratted spring rains as I go along. So, fast read-through progress? 58/602....

So, I hit page 602/602 on the revison today. I think that means 'done'

The ending needs to be tweaked, and I'm going to spend a few days cleaning up little odds and ends, but after that it's going to the first reader. Finally.

Outta here...

My mother told me she really liked Early Winter, Near Jenli Village (at least I remember it that way), and her tastes were validated today by Lois Tilton over at IROSF, who gave the story a RECOMMENDED review!

A sad and quiet tale about wounds that even kindness and love are not enough to heal.

I am full of squee!!! And thanks to marshall_payne for the heads up!

On another note, I went to the brick-and-morter book store today and was frustrated that I couldn't find what I was looking for (hardbacks of the last two books by Jim Butcher, and the first two books by rclementmoore). That is less worthy of squee. I gave in and ordered on-line.

The sun finally made an appearance this afternoon, after days and days of Seattle-ish weather. Did a touch of yard work, but didn't bother with the dead snake or dead skink. I keep hoping something will come along and eat them. The ground is really soggy out there.

I'm starting this work period at 85% through the WIP. The major changes have been made, so now it's only cosmetic from here to the epilog. Perhaps tomorrow? The WIP has ballooned from 95 to 120K, not too surprising, and I'm hoping the first reader will spot all the boring bits so I can chop about 10K out of that.

Tomorrow is two weeks to Wiscon, and I'm not ready.

I'm still trying half-heartedly to set up Dreamwidth, but so far it's taking 13-20+ minutes to load pages. Each individual screen, I mean. I hit enter, and a quarter hour later the next page opens. This is probably due to my ISPs hate of Dreamwidth, but if it doesn't get better...I'm throwing in the towel.

I'm looking into going to WFC this year, so I booked the hotel, and looked into plane tickets. We have a direct flight from OKC to San Jose? It's cheaper to fly from OKC than it is from Dallas?!? How weird is that?

I got copies of our special anthology "A Cabinet of Curiosities, A Circus of Marvels" from AnthologyBuilder.

Our reading cabal* will be giving a few of these away as door prizes at Wiscon, so if you're there, swing by and try to win one ;o)

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*jess_ka, camillealexa, carolineyoachim, dotar_sojat, and me.

The shower went very well. Whew!

I was extremely pleased at the turn out, and my lemon bars had the highest sell-through eat-through of all the cookies present. The bride and groom were roundly feted by all, and got a really nice assortment of gifts.

Got a dreamwidth account, but for some reason can't get any of the pages to open....they time out. ::sighs:: I'll get it worked out eventually.

Must go make dinner. Tomorrow back to realy life and finishing that WIP!

Wolverine? Kentucky Derby? Wolverine? Kentucky Derby? Wolverine? Kentucky Derby?

So I'm leaning toward Wolverine. After all, the KD is just going to be a few minutes long, and there's a possibility that one of the horses might get hurt. I don't wanna be watching if that happens. I can catch the race later on YouTube.


Go to gym? Bake lemon bars? Go to gym? Bake lemon bars? Go to gym? Bake lemon bars?

Duh, lemon bars. Have the shower tomorrow, so those are first priority.



Angry e-mail? Polite query? Angry e-mail? Polite query? Angry e-mail? Polite query?

Dreamwidth failed to send me my code. What's up with that? Yeah, I'll go with the polite query. I'm just not the angry e-mail type.


As I need to go down and make lemon bars, please don't take it personally if I don't read your blog today....perhaps later ;o)

So, here's a question for the flist...

Does anyone rent out things like Kindles?

It seems like a no-brainer, let people test drive them before committing a gazillion dollars.

Also, does anyone know much about the 'slow screen death' on Kindle 2s?

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*Yes, I have to use the book icon for this because I haven't yet seen a grave marker with an angel holding a Kindle...

Finally, thoughts about Conestoga. ( Read more... )
But Conestoga was a blast. I'll get to see a lot of the same people in a couple of months at SoonerCon as well, so that's something to look forward to ;o)

I wrote DitD quickly. In reading it quickly, (100 pages in two sittings) I noted that I need to work on varying the phrases for certain movements, and so have decided that I will start compiling my own Thesaurus of Body Language.

So I'm starting with eyebrows. My first too-often-used phrase is 'he regarded her with raised brows' Any suggestions as to other ways to write this bit of body language, oh wiki-world?*

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*(Please note, if I happen to use your phrasing at some point in the future, I am not going to pay you royalties. Get over it.)